My Kind of Perfect
by Cassi Rose
Summary: When a clueless Berwald accidentally end up raising his brother's child, any chance of having a life outside the boy became impossible, but it's not like he had one before. But as Peter grows up, Berwald meets a man he literally 'bumped into'. Currently rated T, subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

Berwald had never been really happy, and when he was honest with himself, he knew it was true.

He grew up with parents that basically ignored him unless he got into a fight with someone. Sometimes, in his teen years, he'd pick fights with people just to get someone to acknowledge he existed. Even then, if his older brother picked a fight, it was always bigger and badder and always outshone him.

He wasn't friendly at school, and had a repetition of fighting whoever he could. He had one friend, a Norwegian girl by the name of Luka. She was sarcastic and a little cold, but that suited him just fine. But, before he knew it, Luka was swept up in the arms of his brother, Mathias.

He was angry about it, naturally. He did somewhat like her, but it was nothing serious. However, the fact that his brother stole his only friend's time burnt him bad, and he prayed for the relationship to end.

They graduated, and Mathias still had Luka on his arm, and it was driving Berwald insane. He felt like the third wheel, all the time.

He couldn't really afford to buy a house, so he moved up north and bought a large piece of land. He built his own home, which took almost a year, and it was still very cabin like. However, when he moved out of his parents' house and in to his own home, he couldn't be more relieved. He may have been alone, but at least he wasn't the constant third wheel and the unwanted second son.

He went to work making wood furniture for one of the local places, and that was one of his few income sources. He also was busy trying to teach himself to hunt. He did an awful job of actually hitting anything, but he figured he'd improve with practice. He fished and bought books on how to prepare it. He barely made it by, but he managed.

He occasionally got mail from his brother and Luka. They had a son in no time, and they prompted him to come visit. He'd write back, and say that he would maybe. He didn't really see the point, he would just be the third wheel again, and he had never met their son before. All he knew was that his name was Peter, and he had a few pictures from right after he was born.

That was, until that one horrible day.

It started innocently enough, he woke and did his work, only to be stopped by a knock at the door. When he opened it, it revealed his parents and bad news. Both Mathias and Luka had been hit by an incoming truck, and died instantly. If this wasn't bad enough, the boy wasn't killed with them.

He knew that thought was cruel, seeing as he shouldn't wish for anyone to die, much less his own nephew. But, being raised without parents to love you is one of the worst feelings.

He knew, and his parents weren't even dead.

However, the next bit of news shocked him even more.

Both the house, and the boy were left to him. That was, if he would take them of course.

He had to sit down and process. He could never afford to keep their house up and running. He could barely pay his own bills. He'd have to sell it, whether he wanted to or not. But the boy…

Where else did he have to go? His grandparents? He knew his own parents wouldn't make good caretakers, and he didn't have a much higher opinion of Luka's parents. He couldn't let them take the boy. What other choices were their though? Foster care? No no… that would be just as bad.

So there was only one real option.

Later that day, he found himself with a lap filled with a confused, parentless, one year old. He stared at the child with wide, scared eyes.

The next few months were from the depths of hell. First there was the funeral, and then there was moving all of Peter's stuff to his house, and going through everything else. Soon he managed to move out everything, taking some of it, giving some of it to Luka and Mathias' friends and family, and even selling and giving away some of it. All while he took care of a one year old, all on his own.

Many of the people he came across congratulated him on being so strong and taking such good care of Peter, when he knew if they could see what happened behind closed doors, they would not think as such. There were nights he spent in full scale panic, trying to figure out what to do with the boy. He himself was barely twenty with no experience with children.

He was terrified of Peter.

But he worked through it. When the house finally sold, he had enough money to buy a car and to support he and Peter through the next five years, just barely. He slowly learned how to parent along the way, learning the games and the techniques. He taught the boy how to talk and how to walk, and he potty trained him. He took Peter to the park and played with him in the pool. He still didn't really know what he was doing, but Peter seemed open to helping him.

When Peter turned six, he started kindergarten, which was a huge relief for Berwald. He was beginning to really run out of money, so he knew what he had to do.

Not too long after Peter's first day at school was Berwald's first day at work. He managed to get a job on the floors at Ikea. He hoped and prayed he could work up to being a furniture designer or something that didn't involve constant human interaction, but it would do for now. He could only work part time, having to keep to Peter's schedule, and he would still barely getting by, but he was used to it.

He slowly got into the flow of things, and soon their life became constant. He'd get Peter ready for school, get himself ready for work, drive Peter to school, drive himself to work, work the day, pick Peter up, and come home and make dinner and they'd go to bed.

He, for once, was actually satisfied. Peter made good company and made him smile. He reminded Berwald that not everyone was horrible. And Peter loved Berwald, and looked at him as his father.

Their life was steady, in a sea of uncertainty.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

Berwald sighed before clocking out for the day. He out early today, his one early day of the week, and that meant one thing. Grocery shopping.

He was tired and achey as he drove to the grocery store. He hurried inside, grabbing a little basket, wanting to get in and out as quickly as he could. He was rushing through the bakery aisle when he ran right into someone considerably shorter then himself, nearly knocking them over. He stumbled back, hand reaching out to steady the person in front of him.

The smaller man jumped backwards with a little shout of surprise. He looked up at Berwald in horror. "Damn! O-oh my gosh I'm sorry did I hurt you?" He questioned, peering up at the tall blond man in concern.

Berwald blinked at him. Did _he,_ the small stranger, hurt _him,_ the large man who couldn't keep out of fights all through school? Berwald shook his head silently.

"Oh good!" The stranger smiled and looked into the basket Berwald was carrying, shocked to see fruit snacks and various other kinds of kids food, including four bags of goldfish. "You… like goldfish?"

Berwald blushed lightly, not wanting to explain about Peter. Instead he stated, "Yeah," quietly, sort of wondering why the man was still talking to him.

Said man looked up at him shocked, "A-ah that was kind of rude for me to ask, I'm sorry! Well, I hope you find whatever you're looking for! Bye!" He said nervously before skittering away from Berwald, leaving the tall blond staring after him.

Berwald's eyebrow's drew together, "Yeah, bye."

**_AN: _**_Ahhhh Hello everyone! I'd like to thank all of you that review! I'm awfully terrible at talking to people in any way shape or form but I'd like to say thanks to you all! Also, a lot of these chapters for the moment are likely to be short and fast moving. That just seems to be how this story is going at the moment. Whether it will change or not, I'm unsure, but I suppose we will find out._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Berwald drove to pick Peter up, groceries in the back of the car. When the boy crawled in, he cheered excitedly, going through the bag before finding one of the bags of goldfish, wrestling with it till it opened. Berwald shook his head at the boy and drove them home.

When they were both ready for bed, Peter settled down in Berwald's bed. Berwald knew it was going to be one of those nights.

There were just some nights were Peter refused to sleep in his own bed, and insisted on sleeping with Berwald. Or rather, not sleeping with Berwald. The boy kept him up all night, talking about all sorts of things that made no sense. The mind of the six year old boggled him, and he wondered what it was like to view the world through the boy's eyes.

The large man crawled into his bed where the little boy was waiting for him on the other side. He instantly begun chattering away about his day. He told Berwald about his friends, Paula and Raivis, and the various strange things they did on the playground.

Then he asked what Berwald did that day.

"Well, I went to work, and I went shopping." He shrugged. He realized as life went on, the more simple it seemed to become. Everything was an adventure to Peter, but everything seemed old and rusted to Berwald.

"Did anything else happen?" The boy questioned, not understanding how _that_ was all Berwald could do in a day. Sure, he knew Berwald's work, and he knew what shopping was like, but he saw no day as exactly the same as the other.

Berwald thought over the question, one thing standing out above all. "I bumped into someone at the store today."

"You _bumped into someone?_ But I thought you're not supposed to bump into people." Peter questioned in confusion.

"I didn't mean to, it was an accident."

"Oh." The boy pierced his lips, "Were they nice?"

Berwald thought for a moment before nodding.

"Good! Maybe you'll make a new friend!" Peter cheered happily, snuggling over to Berwald. He felt the man's chest rumble with a chuckle.

"Maybe."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

The next morning was hell. They had stayed up way too late and were both exhausted. Berwald had to practically drag Peter from his bed, and still the boy clung to the comforter for dear life.

He managed to get him to school, and himself to work on time though.

He groggily went about his job, directing people to furniture as needed, cleaning up the place as he went. He helped at least six people find their way out of the large store, which was typical as well.

He was about ready to go on his break and maybe find an empty corner of the store and crawl into one of the beds, until someone tapped his shoulder.

"Excuse me I'm lost and- Hey I know you!" The stranger from the day before covered his mouth in shock, big purple eyes blinking up at Berwald.

"Yeah." Berwald deadpanned, not finding much else to say on that topic.

The man looked at the tag on Berwald's chest, reading his name. "Ah, I've got to stop running in to you Berwald! Two days in a row, this is getting weird!" The man let out an awkward laugh and Berwald almost hinted at a smile.

"Hmmm… what did ya need?" He questioned.

"Oh! Yes! Well… I kind of can't find my way out of here. I just moved here and I am looking for furniture, but I think I need to wait to buy anything anyways. But I sort of can't find the exit."

Berwald really did smile slightly at that one. He couldn't help but think he was a bit cute, if a little strange. The purple eyed man just looked nervous.

"Follow me. I'll take ya there." He said before walking off in the other direction, the small man on his heels.

"Oh, by the way, I'm Tino!" The man tweeted as he followed Berwald out, and Berwald nodded.

"Nice name."

"Thank you!"

Soon they were at the exit, and Tino turned to Berwald. "Thank you! I'm pretty sure I would have ended up spending the night here if I didn't find you!" Tino's cheeks were pink as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You're welcome." Berwald nodded, not used to anyone talking to him for so long.

"Well, now I know who to call when I'm buying my furniture." Tino grinned up at Berwald before turning and walking out of the store, waving to Berwald as he did so. "I'll see you around!"

"Yeah… see you around…" Berwald turned around, his own cheeks a pale pink as he went back to work.


End file.
